RickR Posted December 14, 2020 Report Share Posted December 14, 2020 (edited) I'm sharing the info for this very interesting project/product by several members of the Atari community. It's called the PlusCart, and it's essentially a UNOCart that's been modified to load ROMS from wifi instead of an SD cart. There are also ways to add wifi functionality to games. For example, automatic high-score submissions, automatic registration for virtual Activision patches, etc. I have ordered one. They are inexpensive (about $30 plus/minus for USA customers). Looks like fun! More info: A really good video explaining the product: Pluscart Website: https://pluscart.firmaplus.de/pico/ Plus Cart High Score Club https://highscore.firmaplus.de/ PlusCart Store(buy your own Pluscart) https://pluscart.onlineweb.shop/ Atariage PlusCart thread: https://atariage.com/forums/topic/297172-pluscart-an-inexpensive-diy-wifi-multicart/ Edited December 14, 2020 by RickR Sabertooth, Justin, socrates63 and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted December 30, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2020 My PlusCart has arrived! 12 days from order to delivery all the way from Germany -- not bad. In the box is the bare board, cart stickers, and a link to an on-line manual. Next step for me is to mount it in an old broken "Defender" cart and then try it out. Hopefully this weekend. socrates63, Sabertooth and Marco1019 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco1019 Posted December 30, 2020 Report Share Posted December 30, 2020 I look forward to your review! socrates63 and RickR 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted December 31, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 (edited) Well it works! I got it mounted in a old broken cart shell. Issue #1. The 7800 is stupid and doesn't like this shell. Works fine in my 2600jr. For now I'll leave it out of the shell. I got it hooked up to wifi, which was painless using the WPS button on my router. I also created a plusstore account and got that hooked up. Typing in an e-mail address on the pluscart takes some time. But you only have to do it once. I was able to load up and play a few games. They only take about a second to load. Amazing! I even submitted a few high scores! And oh boy, what a selection of homebrews and hacks. This is going to be fun. Issue #2: The 7800 is stupid. For whatever reason, the "reset" button on the 7800 takes you back to the pluscart menu. That means there's no way to start games that use the reset button! DOH! The manual says pressing "right" and "reset" takes you back. For example, I cannot start a game of River Raid. Goal: Get my 7800 out of here and go back to using a 2600jr. We'll see if that fixes my issues. Edited December 31, 2020 by RickR socrates63 and Marco1019 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted December 31, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 16 hours ago, RickR said: Issue #2: The 7800 is stupid. For whatever reason, the "reset" button on the 7800 takes you back to the pluscart menu. That means there's no way to start games that use the reset button! DOH! The manual says pressing "right" and "reset" takes you back. This issue seems isolated to my particular 7800. In reporting the bug over at AtariAge, the developer has noted it works fine on his 7800. Indeed, I have confirmed the cart works as intended on my 2600jr. A bug has been logged. It's nice that the development team is so responsive! For now, I'll use the 2600jr, which I like more anyways. On an unrelated note, may I mention something else I hate about the 7800? When you press a console button hard (sometimes needed on my finicky power button), the whole console will tip forward. If they'd placed the buttons a bit further back, or the base extended all the way to the front... socrates63 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted December 31, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 OK guys, I've spent some time with the PlusCart, and here are my real thoughts It works as promised. Wifi on the 2600! Setup is easy. The games load quickly. There are hundreds of homebrews and hacks to try. This is the real draw. I've been having a blast playing some of these. I have much more to explore. The high-score games work as advertised. It's painless. Just play and your scores are automatically submitted under your account name. Easy! It's inexpensive. $20 for this much fun shouldn't be legal. Advice. If I could do it again, I'd spend the extra to get the 3D printed case. Modifying a 2600 cart case is kind of involved. socrates63 and HDN 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socrates63 Posted December 31, 2020 Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 (edited) Ok, Rick, you got me interested. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and findings. I briefly thought about getting one a few months ago. I didn't know there was a server to download public roms from in addition to uploading and downloading your own files. If it's a more convenient way of playing homebrews and hacks, then I'm in. I'll order one when it's available. The assembled cartridges are currently sold out. Edited December 31, 2020 by socrates63 RickR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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